http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqrJ2CsLEQ
God lives in this women of faith, hope and love. She is a must to visit sometime, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church of NOLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuezAXxxwfU
Dear Ed,
This brief writing is an excerpt by Fr. Craig Larkin, SM. It tells of the founder's (Fr. Colin's) vision for the Society of Mary, the Marists. I feel that it is so much like the ministry of Tau House that the blog readers may find it interesting, perhaps for January 1st, feast of Mary, Mother of God. It's a vision based on Mary's place in the church, in the community of disciples who formed the early church. A Marist is one who is called "To think as Mary, judge as Mary, feel and act as Mary in all things." They are called constantly to build a new church much as Pope Francis is doing. We can't dwell on the wreckage of the past. We must begin processes, not take up spaces as the pope said. There are so many elements to it all that it are a re-telling of Francis of Assisi's story which is of course, the story of the Gospel.
Billy
New world – new church - new Marists
Father Colin asks Marists to find in the early Church a model for the Society of Mary.
He doesn’t mean that we turn the clock back and imitate the physical lives of the early Christians; but he does invite us to try to understand what took place at the beginning of Christianity.
It could be put like this: a group of ordinary people from the world of their times gather together to remember Jesus, and form a communion of mind, heart, and love.
This “community” was simply a gathering or a grouping, not a building or a structured group. And in that community of love – called a “church” – the Gospel was heard, transforming the lives of the people who then submerged themselves in their world, and began to transform it. So it was like a cycle: men and women from the world – gather in a communion – are transformed by the Gospel – submerge themselves in their world – and transform the world which becomes another communion where the Gospel is heard, and so on.
The essential point is that the Gospels were written originally not for individuals, but for these “churches” or communities.
Even today, if the Gospel is to be heard effectively, it is to be heard in the “community”. So, the first requirement is to build a community of people who form “church”. And since the world from which people come and to which they return is constantly changing, so will the shape and texture of the “church” constantly change.
The Society of Mary’s origins lie precisely at a moment of extraordinary change in the history of Western civilization: the great cultural shift of the Enlightenment.
The world in which men and women lived was evolving into something quite different: a world which no longer assumed that God had an intimate part in their lives; a world which was jealous of its freedom and independence, and hypersensitive to any authority. At base, it was a world which was becoming more and more allergic to the Church as it was perceived, and Colin seemed to have an intuitive grasp of what was around him’ Given his temperament, he could easily have joined those who saw this as the end of the world and the time for Divine Judgement.
In fact, the remarkable thing is that he saw his age as a time of challenge to present the Gospel in a new way. He caught the wave without knowing on what part of the shore it might cast him. He realized that the work ahead is to begin a new “church” where the Gospel can be heard. The task is to enable “church” to happen in our day, because it is only then church happens that the Gospel can be proclaimed, heard, believed and inculturated.
How Long Did the Family Stay in Bethlehem?The obvious difficulties connected with the traditional view of the coming of the wise men on the thirteenth day after the Lord's birth have led many to put it after the purification on the fortieth day. Some, holding that Jesus went immediately after that event to Nazareth, suppose that after a short time there He returned to Bethlehem and there was found by the wise men. But most who put the purification upon the fortieth day, make the visit of the Magi to have shortly followed, and prior to any departure to Nazareth. And this order seems best to harmonize the Scripture narratives. The language of Luke 2:22, compared with verse 21 plainly intimates that, as the circumcision took place on the eighth day, so did the presentation on the fortieth.
The feast of the Purification is observed by both Eastern and Western churches on February 2. Till this day, the mother was regarded as unclean and was to abide at home, and it is therefore very improbable that the adoration of the Magi, and especially the flight into Egypt, should have previously taken place. Doubtless, in case of necessity, all the Matthew 2:22) that after Joseph had heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judaea, he was afraid to go there. If, then, he dared not even enter the king's territory, how much less would he dare to go to Jerusalem and enter publicly into the temple. The conjecture of some that Archelaus was then absent at Rome, is wholly without historic proof.
That Matthew puts the flight into Egypt in immediate connection with the departure of the Magi (Matthew 2:13), is plain. No interval could have elapsed after their departure, for it is said in Matthew 2:14 that Joseph "took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt." He went soon as the angel appeared to him, apparently the same night. We cannot then place the history of the purification after their departure and before the flight into Egypt. Nor could Herod, after his jealousy had been aroused by the inquiries of the Magi after the new-born King of the Jews, have waited quietly several weeks, till the events of the purification awakened his attention anew. He acted here with that decision that characterized all his movements, and seeing himself mocked by the wise men, took instant measures for the destruction of the child.
The fact that Mary offered the offering of the poor (Luke 2:24), may be mentioned as incidentally confirming this view. If she had received previously the gifts of the Magi, particularly the gold, we may suppose that she would have used it to provide a better offering.
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"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us"
Scripture: John 1:1-18: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'") And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
Meditation: Why does John the Evangelist begin his gospel with a description of the Word of God which began the creation of the universe and humankind in the first book of Genesis? The “word of God” was a common expression among the Jews. God’s word in the Old Testament is an active, creative, and dynamic word. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6). “He sends forth his commands to the earth; his word runs swiftly” (Psalm 147:15). “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29)? The writer of the Book of Wisdom addresses God as the one who “made all things by your word” (Wisdom 9:1). God’s word is also equated with his wisdom. “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth” (Proverbs 3:19).The Book of Wisdom describes “wisdom” as God’s eternal, creative, and illuminating power. Both “word” and “wisdom” are seen as one and the same. “For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command” (Book of Wisdom 18:14-16).
John describes Jesus as God’s creative, life-giving and light-giving word that has come to earth in human form. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus is the wisdom and power of God which created the world and sustains it who assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. Jesus became truly man while remaining truly God. “What he was, he remained, and what he was not he assumed” (from an early church antiphon for morning prayer). Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother. From the time of the Apostles the Christian faith has insisted on the incarnation of God’s Son “who has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2)
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Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great early church fathers (330-395 AD) wrote: Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?
Christians never cease proclaiming anew the wonder of the Incarnation. The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. The Son of God... worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin (Gaudium et Spes).
If we are going to behold the glory of God we will do it through Jesus Christ. Jesus became the partaker of our humanity so we could be partakers of his divinity (2 Peter 1:4). God's purpose for us, even from the beginning of his creation, is that we would be fully united with Him. When Jesus comes God is made known as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By our being united in Jesus, God becomes our Father and we become his sons and daughters.
Refection question: Do you thank the Father for sending his only begotten Son to redeem you and to share with you his glory?
Prayer: "Almighty God and Father of light, your eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the night. Open our hearts to receive his life and increase our vision with the rising of dawn, that our lives may be filled with his glory and his peace." Amen.
Happy New Year,
Brother Ed, OFM
